Massive FAIL for the NRL

[The Who]

The NRL’s fixation on modern stadia is a huge FAIL.
Playing most matches at night in a huge FAIL.
Giving TV the scheduling rights is a DISASTER.
Let’s look at this weekend’s matches:
So-called state-of-the art stadia ANZ (attracted just 11,832 for two Sydney well-performing teams), Allianz Stadium (13,083 for two well-performing Sydney teams), GIO Stadium (7,094; yes, I know, it was only the Faders playing).
Point 1 being: it’s not the quality of the grounds. Suburban grounds Brookie and Shark Park each attracted around 1,000 more fans than ANZ! So, the NSW Government’s plan to only pump money into giant stadia is dumb. So too is the decision of clubs like the Dogs and Souffs to play at ANZ and alienate many of their fans.
Point 2: It can be freezing at night. Brookie was at its coldest on Friday night. So more matches should be played in sunshine hours when not only will more fans attend but the quality of the football improves.
Point 3: No-one at the NRL is listening to us, the fans. While players come and go, we remain the lifeblood of the sport. When the NRL sold out to the TV networks it proved how unimportant they consider us.
I will always support my club, Manly. But in my own small way I’ll rail against what the NRL is doing to rugby league.

 

[The Wheel]

Here here - couldn't agree more

 

[ManlyArmy]

The sooner the NRL get rid of Channel 9 the better.

Also the only way to stop teams complaining about how many times they are on FTA TV, is have every game on Pay TV only. Heaps of codes around the world use it that way and crowds are always booming.

 

[Garts]

I understand the issues but if we put all that in place the revenue for the game would fall substantially which would result in lower grants less for development etc. What happens then? Like it or not TV rights is what gives the game most of its revenue.

 

[Shoe1]

2 Friday night games doesn't help anyone. I expect next to no one watches the 2nd game - we already know the result, it has crap commentary and too many ads.

Why not a one live Friday night game, 1 live sat arvo or night game, one live sunday game all free to air? Sure the qlders can have one of them each week, I'm not totally unsympathetic to them.

 

[ABTK]

2 Friday night games doesn't help anyone. I expect next to no one watches the 2nd game - we already know the result, it has crap commentary and too many ads.

Why not a one live Friday night game, 1 live sat arvo or night game, one live sunday game all free to air? Sure the qlders can have one of them each week, I'm not totally unsympathetic to them.

Shoe, you're right, I've only watched the second game once this year and that was last Friday's game. I'm not fussed on watching ads interrupted by football - especially when it's the Donkeys that'll be playing anyway...

 

[xavier]

Yes, well said. The NRL never miss an opportunity to sell out the fans by agreeing to whatever the TV stations, bean counters and commercial hucksters require. Playing games in Massive venues with a sprinkling of fans is just a shocking look for the game and a crap experience for the fans.

IT amazes me how often the supposed good economics of this decision trump all the obvious negative factors. The usual argument revolves around the corporate/business obsession with 'growth'. Phil Gould constantly goes on about how the issue isn't playing in these venues, but filling them, as if these echoing airplane hanger spaces could be filled with just the right marketing strategy or ticketing policy. The same people then wax lyrical about how great suburban footy is when for instance the Tigers play at Leichardt.

Sydney is not Melbourne and the NRL has completely different crowd dynamics to the AFL. To effectively copy the Victorians in pushing all the clubs into these big ugly, characterless stadiums is madness. Cos lets face it, Telstra Stadium is a crap stadium, designed for a two week athletic meet 14 years ago and subsequently shoehorned into a football venue. I hate the place. Alliance stadium has the advantage of being smaller scale and designed for football, but its still a bland, uninteresting space which the Roosters routinely fail to fill to much more than one third of its capacity.

The Dogs and other clubs who use it on average only fill at most about 20% of the capacity. And then you have the dead atmosphere to contend with, which ensures that people keep staying away. My bet is 20 years from now the same motley crew of bean counters in suites talking about 'growth potential' will still be echoing around the empty stands.

Madness. Long live Brookvale.

---

Sorry, ANZ, not Telstra stadium. Hard to keep up with which large corporate has the naming rights. Names don't matter when you're dealing with vast canyons of blandness

 

[COMMANDER]

Ahh, well, there's only 4 and a bit more years to put up with it.

The reality is TV rights money fed back to the clubs by the NRL means that crowds are no longer required, the clubs could survive on that money alone.

 

[Frogz]

The Entire NRL is a massive fail.
Smith, Greenturd absolutely useless. they have 2 clubs in which they will be controlling with board members as they have no money....They have low crowds...a screwed up schedule/draw....ASADA hanging over their heads and 2 clubs who look like have screwed up with the salary cap....top that off with one of their better performers off to The Warriors (Jim Doyle)
Where were these 2 idiots this weekend....not seen for dust, probably too cold or too late or actually maybe there were not even games on in there town, like Sydney yesterday and next Sunday....

 

[Jethro]

The sooner the NRL get rid of Channel 9 the better.

Also the only way to stop teams complaining about how many times they are on FTA TV, is have every game on Pay TV only. Heaps of codes around the world use it that way and crowds are always booming.

I totally agree with you on your Channel 9 comment but I'll have to disagree with you on the suggestion that all games should be on Pay TV.

I cannot justify getting Pay TV solely for getting NRL games.

At the end of last year, Channel 7 showed how much better they were at broadcasting Rugby League games with the Rugby League World Cup so I would rather wait and see what Channel 7 and the other FTA broadcasters have to offer before rustling up any suggestion of Pay TV having sole broadcasting rights but definitely, Channel 9 has to be taken out of the picture.

 

[RiverEagle]

Yeah I agree that putting all games on pay TV only isn't fair or realistic.

I have Foxtel, but at times in the past I didn't (and still wanted to see footy, of course).

And there's a lot of people and families that can't afford or see the value of it (Foxtel).

The games should ALL be live though via a combination of Nine (they can utilise GEM and GO instead of rerunning movies or repeats of Big Bang), and pay TV (for those who do fork out).

For Nine to have the monopoly, and still show only one live game a week is pathetic.

 

[COMMANDER]

The afl has got the setup. All games on both free to air (should the broadcaster choose to show them) and all games on pay as well.

 

[manlyfan76]

In 2014 we should be able to to choose the coverage we want. Which commentators and ads no ads.
Is it any wonder that people use websites like wiziwig.tv to watch game?

 

[sheridanstand78]

Fact is we are prisoners to this TV deal.

the networks want night footy. The fans want more games in the day.

I would love to see a format of 1 game on Friday night and not always the Friday night drongos.

3 games on Saturday, 3PM 5PM and 7PM
3 games on Sunday, 1PM, 3PM and 5PM
1 game on a Monday night

We need more day games, it gets too cold in the middle of winter. I went on Friday night and it was really freezing.

Greenturd and his mob never listen to the fans and we are stuck with this. The AFL on the other hand have listened and their 2015 season will be all about a BETTER experience for the fans. Shame our lot do not understand.

 

[HoldenV8]

Even if they did away with one of the Friday night games and put it back to the Saturday afternoon which worked very well for a few decades it would be better than what happens now. IIRC, until the late 1980's or early 1990's, the Saturday League on the ABC (with at times David Morrow, Warren Boland, John Peared, Arthur Beetson and Debbie Spillane) was all anyone outside of NSW or Qld ever got to see of the competition on TV other than Origin or the Grand Final.

That might also get rid of the problem of having the Donkeys on TV every Friday night. Heaven forbid should they have to play on a Saturday.

Question, do the Donkeys actually play a game on Foxtel or are they always on Nein either on Friday nights or the odd Sunday arvo?

 

[HappilyManly]

The next NRL deal will hopefully be based on a few bleeding obvious facts.

1) Fans want to go to daylight games on the weekends.

The bulk of 9 and Foxtel winter programming, hence advertising revenue is based on the NRL. This includes the innumerable 'footy show' style programs on both TV and Radio.

The NRL need to copyright their content - Club Brands, Player access, game statistics, game coverage by all Media companies.

2) The production cost, to fill air time with other content, would be more than the 1.2 billion over 5 years.

The Media needs the NRL more than they admit. Sport is really the cheapest form of content delivery - point the camera /microphone

Imagine the empty pages in the DT two weeks ago if News had to pay a royalty for referencing 'Manly Sea Eagles' etc.

Manly need to copyright the word 'crisis' ASAP :idea:

 

[HoldenV8]

One more thing. Putting all games on Foxtel actually limits the TV audience to those who have Foxtel, and as has been pointed out not everyone does.

The National Basketball League, after their boom years in the 1990's, went solely with Foxtel back in about 1998 or 1999 and it basically killed the competition because back then only a small percent of the population actually had Fox. The sport lost the casual fans who watched occasionally on FTA, and other than the die hards, attendances fell off alarmingly to the point where the NBL eventually had to shut down and re-invent itself (to use geek language, it had to re-boot). It became a case of out of sight, out of mind for most people. Even though 10's coverage is generally crap, its taken the last 6 years for the NBL to start getting back the crowds they once had, and they are still only halfway there.

Not saying that will happen with the NRL as its two different sports with different audiences. But taking games from FTA and putting them all on pay-tv would be a disaster IMO.

 

[Garts]

I keep hearing that fans want more day footy, what is this based on? I know diehards like us do but I am not sure others do or it works from them with other commitments such as family etc. If fans really wanted more day footy the tv stations would put more games on during the day. But the fact is they don't as they will not rate as well. Yes you might get more at the game but the loss of tv viewers would be much greater than the extras through the gate.

 

[Brissie Kid]

Point 2: It can be freezing at night. Brookie was at its coldest on Friday night. So more matches should be played in sunshine hours when not only will more fans attend but the quality of the football improves.

What a brilliant day weather wise last Sunday was. It reminded me of so many Sundays at Brookie in 1990s. Now its just wasted. You want women and kids at NRL games then play in the daylight. #simples

 

[silvertail]

Get rid of the second Friday night game and the Monday night game ... And while we are at it, end the mortgage that the Broncos have on Friday nights.

Play those two games on a Sunday afternoon. These games become the only 2 delayed viewing games.

Channel 9 can go with footy at 4pm, news at 6pm, footy at 6:30pm, 60 minutes at 8:30pm

Foxtel can play their replay at 830pm.

- better crowds, happier fans, same or more tv viewers